I hate Outlook. It's a memory and processor hog and it forces me to work the way it wants to work rather than how I want to do it.

That said almost everything "speaks" Outlook and for that reason it can be a useful information hub. If you can get the information in and out.

For a long time I used Yahoo applications and they included a synchronise program that let me synch calendar, contacts and notes with Outlook. Having bitten the Google apple I've found it difficult to re-create that.

It's become a little easier with a new Google application to synchronise Google Calendar with Outlook.

"PDFTextOnline is a free service that will give you your day back. Withno login or account required, you just browse to- and select your PDFfile, click the magic button, and PDFTextOnline takes it from there."

Use GMail? Wish it worked like an application on your desktop? PRISMfrom Mozilla, the fine folk who brought you the Firefox browser, takesweb apps and presents them in an application only interface with noconfusing browser menus or toolbars.